Homeschool Resource Meme!


I've been not exactly tagged by  Happy Elf Mom! Ready? Here goes:

1. One homeschooling book you have enjoyed: The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. It was used heavily in the first few years of homeschooling and is now still a constant resource for checking facts and brushing up on history.

2. One resource you wouldn't be without: a computer. Like Happy Elf Mom, it has been my single most important piece of equipment for homeschooling and beyond.  It has allowed me to work while homeschooling.  It has allowed my kids to homeschool more independently, and it has provided a plethora of free online resources.

3. One resource you wish you had never bought:   Language arts books by Stobaugh such as American Literature Teacher Text: Encouraging Thoughtful Christians to be World changers (Broadman & Holman Literature)  They are more Christian World View books than language arts.  That's great if it is what you want, but it is overkill and takes far too long to complete a lesson.  If your child goes to church and/or takes Christian instruction in other forms, this is not necessary. Because I started writing in the books, I didn't feel I could sell them, so I used them as a guide instead of a curriculum. 

4. One resource you enjoyed last year: Hippocampus.org.  It helped my kids study history and science independently of me and each other, which they really appreciated.  I just wish they had created more subject guides.  We could use language arts, biology, and chemistry!


5. One resource you will be using this year: So I took a plunge and decided to try out Georgia Virtual School to get my kids used to dealing with teachers before college.  What was I thinking?  They already take classes for all of their arts and electives.  I think the program is harder on me than on them because I don't want them to mess up their GPAs, and this online school gives very little wiggle room on handing in assignments and the learning schedule is quite strict.  But if they can hang in there, they will be able to deal with even the most demanding of teachers in college.  Don't know if we are going to do this for semester 2 yet, but my daughter insists she is learning so much more this way, even if her grade doesn't show it.


6. One resource you would like to buy:  IPads.  No, we don't need them, we just want them.  I feel like school would be more portable, even more portable than with laptops.  I could experiment more with different online resources and learning games, and we could get rid of a lot of paper around the house.... I think.

7. One resource you wish existed: I wish there was a Time4Learning for big kids.... past middle school.  I think it is an excellent way to learn and frees up time for other activities.


8. One homeschool catalog you enjoy reading: The IKEA catalog.  Wait, that's not for homeschooling.... But it is for organizing.  So, that's my choice and I'm sticking to it.

9. One homeschool website you use regularly : KhanAcademy.org  Great for drilling and refreshing math skills. 


10. Tag six other homeschoolers: Ummm... Happy Elf Mom didn't tag anyone, so why should I.  If this looks like fun, just go for it. Enjoy, and let me know if you do this un-tagged post.



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4 comments:

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Ohh Time4Learning. Yep it ends what? Fifth grade? Somewhere in there. I like IKEA stuff too but it's way far away from me.

THANK YOU for playing. I never want to tag people because some people hate that and I always forget who. :)

Ahermitt said...

Yeah, TFL ends in middle school, but they don't have all subjects for those years.

IzyMoe said...

Just a quick note on the ipads...they don't support flash, so check into the videos you would want to watch most regularly to determine if the ipad would support them. :)

Ahermitt said...

yeah, iPads are a wish-list items. With my kids being in the 11th and 12th grades they will be most likely to get them for graduation gifts and not homeschool tools.

12 grade year of homeschooling, Finishing Strong

We are almost done with my college prep series. There will still be a video on completing the transcript.    Stay tuned... meanwhile, ...